Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures are constituted by a thin active silicon layer overlying a silicon dioxide insulating layer (i.e., the buried oxide, or “BOX”), which itself overlies a supporting silicon substrate. The advantages of SOI structures for metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) technology and complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits are well documented. The insulating layer of the SOI structure enables field effect transistors (FET's) to operate at significantly higher speeds with improved electrical isolation and reduced electrical losses as compared with conventional bulk silicon technologies. The result is an increase in performance and a reduction in power consumption.
In conventional MOSFET and CMOS technologies, field effect transistors fabricated on an SOI structure include a channel formed in the active silicon layer. Carrier mobility is an important parameter because of its direct influence on output current and switching performance of the field effect transistors. Accordingly, one approach for increasing device performance is to enhance the channel mobility by straining the active silicon layer either biaxially or uniaxially. A net strain may be provided by introducing compressive stress into the silicon active layer or by introducing tensile stress into the silicon active layer. Straining the crystal lattice in the plane of the silicon layer either locally or globally alters the electronic band structure of the silicon layer. As a result, in-plane carrier mobility may be increased by ten to twenty-five percent, which results in improved device performance.
Biaxial tensile strain may also be induced in a silicon layer uniformly across an entire substrate by introducing an intervening layer formed of a material having a lattice constant greater than that of silicon. For example, a biaxially strained active silicon layer may be produced in an SOI structure by introducing a thin composite layer of graded silicon germanium buffer layer and a relaxed silicon germanium layer between the buried oxide layer and the silicon active layer, which is deposited epitaxially on the relaxed silicon germanium layer. The tensile strain increases the interatomic spacing of the silicon in the plane of the substrate, which increases electron mobility. A layer transfer approach may remove the silicon germanium layer. The existence of the uniform tensile stress enhances electron mobility in device channels of n-channel field effect transistors (NFET's) and hole mobility in p-channel field effect transistors (PFET's) for tensile stress introduced perpendicular to the direction of carrier flow in the PFET device channel.
Uniaxial compressive strain may be induced locally in a silicon layer by process optimizations. Small amounts of stress may be introduced by manipulating the properties of existing devices structures, such as capping layers, spacers, and shallow trench isolation. Greater amounts of stress may be introduced by, for example, depositing a graded silicon germanium layer only in the source and drain regions of PFET's. The local introduction of the silicon germanium layer has the effect of adding compressive strain to the PFET channel, which locally increases hole mobility.
The use of silicon germanium layers for forming strained silicon has certain disadvantages. Silicon germanium layers tend to introduce defects in the silicon that impact device yields. Global silicon germanium layers deposited across the wafer are not suitable for separately optimizing NFET's and PFET's. Silicon germanium layers also have poor thermal conductivity and some dopants diffuse more rapidly through the silicon germanium layer, which may influence diffusion doping profiles in source and drain regions formed in the active layer. Another practical limitation is that the silicon germanium layer contributes to increasing the overall thickness of the active layer, which is being scaled downwardly in modern device designs.
What is needed, therefore, is a method of introducing tensile strain into the active layer of an SOI structure without the use of an underlying, relaxed silicon germanium layer and SOI structures, devices and integrated circuits having a strained active layer fabricated by the method.